One Thousand Words
by Whisperer of the Wind
Summary: A picture's worth a thousand words, but two? Combined with birthdays, showers, and a troublsome monkey? There's not enough words in this universe.


**Hola, mis amigos! Qu****é**** tal? (Hello, my friends! What's up?) So, another Holix fanfic (because there's never enough of it) full of meaningless things pertaining to romance between a doctor and the most oblivious man on earth. **

**Read on, if you lust for that kind of thing (I certainly do).**

* * *

2:30 AM- Dr. Holiday's lab

July 2

Holiday ripped off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. This was pointless. How could she possibly be expected to do this, and in twenty hours to boot! She wasn't even given twenty-four hours, which was just plain rude. Everyone knew the deadline for a big job like this was twenty-_four_ hours! It was in all the movies, the TV shows, the books- everyone knew! But _no_, not White! He just had to up the ante, and make it twenty! Really, what was the difference?

She glared at the computer screen. A map of the world took up half of the screen, with various dots on it, constantly moving and fluctuating between different colors. The other half of the screen was filled with meters, maps, codes, and information for each and every dot on the other half, telling her about the EVOs they respectively represented. All she needed to focus on was the power, location, and speed of each one.

Breech would be high up on the food chain, and it was a well-known fact she was fast. Her unique abilities gave her the power to go from one place to another rapidly. None were hopping from country to country at the moment, or even state to state for that matter. It was damned frustrating, was what it was.

Holiday forcibly relaxed her shoulders and took a calming breath. Focus. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus. Breach would turn up sooner or later, causing havoc and mayhem most likely, if their source was correct. That was debatable in her mind, but her employer wasn't her mind. It was White. Ergo, she had to do this. A small part of her mind whispered that White wasn't the one busting his ass trying to prove (or disprove) their undercover operative's information, but she quickly squashed that thought. White did his fair share of work, too, she was sure…even if all evidence pointed to the opposite conclusion.

She shook her head. She was getting off topic again. She needed to focus. Just focus. But it was getting harder and harder with every passing hour. She was tired, and the coffeemaker in the lounge was broken. She could always drink one of Rex's energy drinks, but after seeing what they did to you internally from various science-related conventions, she was sorely disinclined to resort to that.

She knew she was being a wimp, that she'd stayed awake longer than this. But that had been a desperate time, and she never wanted to resort to such desperate measure again. She knew things could have been worse than a sleeping city, but when she thought about all the electroshocks it had taken to keep her awake, nothing came to mind.

She pushed miscellaneous lab equipment aside and laid her head on the table. Maybe she could pinch herself to stay awake. Mm, too painful. She was a doctor besides; it went against her nature to intentionally harm herself, in the line of duty or otherwise…not including the electroshock therapy she'd used to keep herself awake in the midst of a sleeping crisis.

She could take a jog around the base to wake her up. But no, she wasn't allowed to leave her lab until her "mission" was completed. She could jog around her lab, maybe, or even jog in place. Not a bad idea, but she couldn't summon the energy to make herself move. Ugh, this was turning out to be more complicated than she thought. How…annoying.

Holiday closed her eyes. Not to sleep, just for a little rest. She wasn't making any progress now, so what harm could a few minutes of R&R do? None, she reasoned with herself, none at all. And besides, she might think of a better way to stay up if she was a bit refreshed.

* * *

Holiday woke with a start. What happened? She looked around, groggy. Oh, right. She was trying to find Breach, who didn't seem to want to be found. She looked at her watch.

3:10 AM. So she wasn't really asleep that long, in reality. Just over a measly little half-hour. Not a big deal, and by the looks of her computer screen, no new information had been found while she was out of it. So it was OK.

But she still needed a way to stay awake. What if Knight had commed her for an update? He would have seen her slacking, and that would have undoubtedly led to another meeting about job morale and how it was their duty to rid the earth of EVO's, and that since the EVO's never took a holiday, or a weekend off, neither should they.

Ironically, those meetings caused people to fall asleep faster than their actual jobs did. Not that White actually noticed, and if he did he didn't seem to care one way or another. Maybe he enjoyed ranting at them, conscious or not. Yeah, that was probably it.

Another glance at the computer screen told her that there was still no new information. If only she could download all the feed from operating visual systems around the world and compare all footage with a picture of Breach; that way, facial recognition programs could help her. But she couldn't do that with all the world's feed, because that would crash even Providence's advanced systems. And she would get in trouble for that, too.

An idea for staying awake slowly dawned on Holiday. Facial recognition…picture…files. She shoot out of her chair like a rocket and ran to the small adjoining room in the back where all paper files were kept, silently thanking White's paranoia that someone would crash their computers, and therefore they had to have written copies of everything.

She opened the door, shut it almost all the way behind her, and turned around. Dear Lord, she could already see him.

A…B…C…D…

Her fingers quickly flicked over the letters that weren't important, needing to skip to the one that she desperately wanted right now.

L…M…N…O…

Almost there, almost there. Her eyes shuttered back and forth, searching for that elusive letter paired with a number that belonged only to him. Always, only to him. That letter, that number, was so important she couldn't even accurately describe what it meant to her, and she was a doctor! That right there said how unexplainable her feelings were. Sensations, flutters, she didn't know what those meant- there was no scientific term to explain how she felt when she saw him. She knew, all the same, even if she couldn't diagnose herself with it. Even though it didn't fit in her world of medicine and practicality.

But didn't it though? Medicine, science, it all was intertwined with math. And math had numbers.

Q…R… _YES!_ Her mind was ecstatic- she'd found it! S, that one small letter that was so important. And there it was, right beside it, that one teensy number, not even in the double-digits. They weren't so remarkable, but together…together, they made her world absolutely explode. More like, implode, actually, considering how high her body temperature was just _contemplating_ about what she was about to do.

But it was so, _so,_ worth it. A thousand times worth it. Hell, a billion-gazillion times worth it!

She pulled out the file and closed the cabinet drawer, sliding down until her rear was resting against the cool tiles. The cold seeped through her thin lab coat and calmed her down a bit as she opened the file and rifled around various medical forms and papers concerning his job and skills.

There. A corner of white peeked out, wrinkled and worn smooth at the same time from all its handling. Holiday grabbed it like a life preserver and slowly pulled. The picture came into view, bit by bit. She savored every moment of it. Every. Friggin'. _Moment._

And then he was there, not looking at her, but staring off into space instead. Looking for all the world like he could easily be thinking about quantum psychics or nothing at all. It was all there, written across his face. A face she knew like some knew the Bible. Every line, every pore memorized. Etched into her memory for forever. And for once, one blessed moment in time, he didn't have his shades on.

That was what really took her breath away. His eyes were just as beautiful as she imagined. A deep, chocolate brown that begged to be looked soulfully into. Eyes that looked at her when he thought she wasn't looking, that followed her around to ensure her safety. She knew he did that. She knew because she was watching him watch her when he thought she was done watching him. She loved it.

But, she had to admit, the fact that Six was absolutely, stark, _naked_ except for a small white towel around his waist was also a bonus. A very, _very,_ big bonus. She loved bonuses.

The picture was taken from an angle that suggested Six hadn't known he was being photographed. He was partially turned so that his chest and back showed, with one hand hanging at his side and the other reaching towards his hair.

He must have come out of the shower, because his hair was misted with dew and there were droplets all over his body. One on his arm had left a glistening trail behind. Her eyes imagined what it would have looked like as it slowly ran down his arm, winding along his muscle. What she would have given to be able to replace that miniscule drop of liquid with her own hand, her own fingers. To feel his arm pull and flex underneath her. She closed her eyes, envisioning it for a moment.

_Good thing he's not actually here with me right now,_ Holiday thought with a smile. She might jump him to feel it all for herself.

She opened her eyes again and took one long look at Six again. She traced the planes of his face and rubbed her thumb across his chest. If only, if only…

Hoisting herself up off the floor, she returned Six's picture to its paper prison and put it back in the cabinet. She'd had her little moment, and now she needed to get back to work. It was tempting to just sit there and drool over Six's body, but that would be unprofessional. Then again, what was professional about any of what she'd been doing?

The chair squeaked as she sat down and stared at the computer again. Perhaps she could make it her screensaver? And what a screensaver it would make, too. But then if somebody needed something from her lab and didn't bother to ask, they might see it. And what if it was a _woman_? She couldn't have some female pervert getting ahold of that picture!

No, better to hoard it for all of eternity. And she had some vacation time coming up- maybe she would go to a beach. Beaches had photo places. And photo places made copies. She could have copies of her picture. After all, she didn't know those people. Who cared if they knew she was making copies of a picture of a half-naked man? She certainly didn't! It was perfect!

She smiled to herself and took a deep breath. Two more days, and then endless shower Six's! Holiday nearly squealed in euphoria at the thought. One at her house, one at work, one in her bedroom here at Providence, one in her travel bag, one in her coat pocket, one in her wallet- the possibilities were practically endless.

She really needed to thank Rex again for her birthday present.

* * *

4:23 PM, Rex's room

June 20

"Well? What am I supposed to get her?" Rex ducked his head as he jerked the controller in an attempt to dodge Bobo's laser attack. Now that was just wrong- going after a guy when he was distracted.

"How do I know? Flowers, chocolate, a stuffed animal, girl crap. I'm a monkey, since when is that kinda junk my problem?" Bobo's eyes never left the screen as he easily maneuvered around Rex's pathetic effort to avoid his attacks. Ha, Rex didn't stand a chance.

Rex grunted as his ship lost its left wing. That was gonna hurt. "Come on," he whined. "You're good at spy stuff, and we all know you have information on everyone not even White knows about. So what does Holiday want? There's gotta be something no one else knows about, something besides the generic crap she tells everyone she wants when she really doesn't even care."

Bobo rolled his eyes. "First of all, I don't know what you're talking about on the spy scene, Bunny Boxers-"

Rex gaped at him. How the heck did he know about those? Rex only put them on when everyone else was out on a mission!

"And _secondly_, even if I did know, it's not like I can just give that kind of info out to just anyone. Top secret stuff, you understand. I mean, these secrets could be devastating in the wrong hands. Imagine the havoc that would be our home if I told everyone who tried to weasel this stuff out of me what they wanted to know."

So that was how he was going to play this. Fine, Rex was game. "What do you want, you little briber? Food, money, games?" Bobo smirked at him. This was going to be fun.

"Your new comics, the limited edition ones." Bobo chuckled as Rex protested in vain.

"Take it or leave it, kid. But I want 'em, and that's the price if you want to know." Rex flopped on his bed and sulked, grumbling to himself. It was so unfair. And was it worth it? Did he really need to get Holiday something unique? Really, how good the secret-

"And it's a doozy, too. You'd be amazed," Bobo continued. "I caught her rambling to herself on a late night. A few sleeping pulls later and she was babbling like a lunatic." Rex froze. Oh, that dirty, conniving, little, son of a…

"Fine!" he snapped. "You can see them, but you have to wear gloves- and no snack chips while you're reading them, either!"

Bobo frowned. "I don't wear gloves, and agree not to eat any candy bars or snack chips while holding them." Rex was shaking his head halfway through the sentence.

"You don't wear gloves, no chips, candy bars, or meatball subs while reading it." Bobo mentally chuckled inside his head. Kid had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker.

"Deal." Bobo turned back around and unpaused the game, proceeding to kill Rex's ships before Rex managed to dive for his controller and return to the fight. Sucker.

Rex swore that Bobo was going to pay for that later. But for right now…"Well? What does she want?"

Bobo snorted. "What has she always wanted? Geez, kid, you're so thick. Can't you see it? The stolen looks, brief touches, innuendos mixed in with every conversation? The tension that permeates the room every time they're together?"  
"Can't you-" Bobo turned to see Rex staring at him, openmouthed. "What? I notice things, alright?"

Rex was still staring at him like he was weird. Bobo cleared his throat. "Back to the subject, just focus, okay? What Holiday wants is, well, you know." Bobo cleared his throat again. "She wants Six."

Rex was staring at him again. And then he burst out laughing. "What are you even talking about? That's- that's ridiculous! Oh, oh I can't even talk!" Rex rolled on his side, snickering to himself.

"Fine then!" Bobo snapped. He tried to help the kid, and this was what he got in return? Forget it in that case.  
"Oh come on, stop being so touchy. How can you drop that bomb on me and not expect to get laughed at in return? I mean, dude!"

"Say what you want, man, but I'm telling you. She's got a major crush on Mr. Shades. Bet you he likes her, too."

Rex rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But how can we get her Six? Even if he does like her, it's not like we can put a bow on him and just hand him over to her. It'd be amusing, sure, but impossible unless he was drugged or something."

Ah, jeez. The kid was seriously dense. Did he really have to spell this out? "C'mon, we don't have to get her him, per se, just something _of_ him."

Silence greeted him. Rex was just staring at him with a blank look on his face. Good grief. Alright then, he would spell it out. "Take a picture of him, kid. Jeez."

Reeling back from the deranged monkey's words, Rex shuddered. "What are you, crazy? I can't take a picture of him- he'd never agree to that! And there's no way I can get a picture of him without his permission! He'd flay me! Besides that, what makes you think she doesn't already have a ton of secret photos of Six? I can see she likes him just as well as you can. I _choose_ to ignore it. It's a _choice_."

Bobo snorted. "Talk about having no faith. Trust me, kid. The trick is to catch him when he's unawares. Sometime when he's relaxed, when he lets his defenses down."

Rex frowned. "But he's never like that. He's Six; ever ready to battle evil, y'know?"

The evil chuckle resonated throughout Bobo's mind again. "Not in the shower."

* * *

Six sighed as he ran his hand over his hair. He'd run them over his eyes, but his shades were in the way. And he'd never take his shades off when there were this many people around. Especially _her_. She was here, and there was no way in hell he was taking off his shades while there was the possibility that she would see his eyes.

Would see what was _in_ his eyes. No, that couldn't happen. Not while he had such a dangerous job.

The meeting finally ended and White finished whatever it was he was blathering on about. Honestly, Six didn't know or care at this point. All he could think about was _her_ and it really was very distracting. This was unacceptable.

He walked Rex back to the kid's room to make sure he and the monkey didn't try anything. Rex had been antsy lately and he didn't want to take any chances.

Six almost smiled as he realized the very same thought had crossed his mind not ten minutes ago. It was true all the same, though. He really didn't like to take chances. Too many things could go wrong. And he had witnesses the aftermath of chances gone wrong too many times since he'd taken Rex in to ever do it willingly. The kid really was a walking catastrophe.

But then again, that was part of the reason he liked the little brat so much. The kid added a little spice to his otherwise bland existence. Cliché, but true.

Kind of like a certain woman…

Ugh! There she was again. Constantly invading his thoughts. It was ridiculous. He'd survived for years on his own without anyone's love or companionship to help him through. He'd built a wall of ice around his heart and he'd thought he'd hardened it beyond caring.

And then came the kid. And the monkey. Though technically the monkey had come before the kid. Did it matter? Not really.

And the woman. Her. Holiday. She was a loving, wonderful, caring, compassionate, kind woman who actually had found something likeable in him. A feat in and of itself that he'd thought impossible since One.

Apparently she'd really liked what she'd found in him because that lady had latched on and hadn't let go since. Damn, but she was persistent.

Worse, the kid had attached himself to Six and now he was embedded inside Six's heart, right beside Holiday. He hated people sometimes- them and their annoying ability to create bonds. Holiday and Rex certainly had created some strong bonds with him. It was frustrating. What if he got hurt?

That hadn't mattered before. Now, he had to worry about what would happen to them in the case of his death. Would they be okay? Who would take care of the kid and keep him out of trouble? Who would keep him from caving to the ridiculous plans the monkey concocted? Bail him out when he went along with the plans the monkey concocted?

And what about Rebecca? How would she take him dying? Would she be sad? How long would she grieve? Would she grieve at all? What if some other man moved in on her while she was depressed? The very thought of another man touching Holiday made him want to punch a wall. Better yet, said man.

He deposited Rex and Bobo in their room and locked the door. Hopefully that would be the end of it. Who knew what those two would come up with while everyone was distracted from the meeting?

Six walked down the hall and keyed in the code for his room. He needed to change it, too. Rex and Bobo were starting to figure it out, he was sure. That was, if they hadn't already figured it out. He was sure he'd felt someone in his room a while ago. But he'd checked his personal tapes and hadn't seen anything. Still, better not to take any chances.

He slipped his shades off and laid them gently on his nightstand. Now that he was actually free to rub his eyes, the urge had passed. Stupid urges. Those things really pissed him off sometimes.

His eyes traveled over his room. Not very impressive. Chest of drawers. Bed. Nightstand. The only new thing was a recent addition of a desk so he could work in here, too. A few scarce, and mostly battered, knick-knacks lying around the room in various places. The small hallway that contained one door at the end, and one door in the wall. The former lead to the bathroom, the latter to his small closet. Well, the closet was average, it was his wardrobe that was small.

Walking down the aforementioned hallway and into the bathroom, Six let his shoulders droop and rubbed the kinks out of his neck. Here, he could relax. This was his haven, his one safe place.

In theory, Six knew this was a load of BS. But he couldn't stop himself from starting to relate this place to peace, tranquility. There were no EVO's here, no Rex, no Bobo, nothing. Nothing but himself and the soothing shower. He climbed in and let the warm spray wash over him, washing away all the grime and the dirt that he'd steadily acquired throughout the day. Not very pleasant. He cracked his eyes open and saw something that vaguely resembled a green color wash down the drain. He shuddered as he remembered the EVO that had produced it. Nasty thing.

He climbed out and wrapped a towel around his waist. It was white, a variation from his standard green towel. He didn't have proof, but he suspected someone had swiped one or two of his personal towels and replaced them with these.

After dressing for bed and completing his bathroom night routine (brush teeth, hair, pick out clothes for morning, polish shades and shoes, iron green tie, come up with plans and backup plans to keep Rex and Bobo in line tomorrow) he sat on his bed and turned out all the lights save a small lamp he had on his nightstand. Also a shade of green.

Before he laid down, he hesitated, and then reached over and _under_ his nightstand, unlocking a secret compartment. A small picture came out in his hand when he retracted it. It was frayed along the edges, the color fading.

Normally he'd be worried, but it was alright. He'd had numerous copies made on a recent impromptu trip to the beach with the two demons- excuse him, _kids._ Or, as Rex would indignantly point out, teens. Though he wasn't sure how old Bobo was.

As he stared down at the photo in his hand, a smile stole over his face. Holiday stared back at him. Well, not directly at him, more like some space the photographer hadn't captured. Hardly a surprise since it seemed that the woman in question didn't look aware she was being seen, much less photographed. Holiday hair was down, half spilling down her shoulders in waves and the other half down her back, or so he presumed.

The picture itself was of Holiday facing the camera head on and staring at some spot a smidge to the right. She must have come out of the shower (or bath, as Six had learned she preferred those over showers) recently, but not right before the picture. Her hair was damp, but not wet and her body was completely dry.

Probably toweled herself off, Six thought absently, noting the green towel laying on the bed behind her all crumpled. Vaguely he noted that it looked a lot like his.

Still, droplets of water still clung to her body in some places. The part of her body that really interested him (besides her brain and wit) was covered by a nightgown. Negligée, really- a beautiful green color. Lovely when paired with her fair skin and dark hair.

His thumb moved across the picture, seemingly of its own accord. Stroking her face, rubbing her arms. It was ridiculous. He was molesting a picture of her, and…the thought faded as he continued to stare at her picture.

No, nothing was wrong with this. He couldn't have her, but he could have this. Not nearly enough, but he'd have to make do. Just as well, she was too good for him.

Her lips were pink, lush and full. His index finger crept into his line of vision, touching them. How he wished he could perform the action with the real Holiday.

But no, he'd probably attack her. He might hurt her, even.

The temptation was still there.

After he returned the picture to its original spot he made sure the nightstand looked normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The last thing he needed was one of the boys breaking into his room to cause mischief and finding it- all hell would break loose. They'd make copies and taunt him for eternity.

_And what a thing to be taunted with…_his mind was rebelling again. He really needed to get a hold on that. Later, though. Yeah, sometime later.

The bed gave way beneath him and he rested his head against the pillow. Off came the shades and he set them on the nightstand, directly over where her picture lay, hidden from the world.

As his mind drifted, and thoughts of the petite doctor filled his head, one image lingered in the back of his head, not acknowledged, but silently thanked all the same- Bobo coming up to him, silent but smiling, and handing him a small rectangular piece of paper. _Happy birthday indeed..._

* * *

**This one was shorter than it was originally going to be, and more subtle. But still- who doesn't love a naughty Holiday and Six? They're so into each other it's hilarious.**

**Review, and tell me what you think about the pictures they have of each other- courtesy of Bobo, in case any of you didn't get that. Suggestions and requests are always welcome!**


End file.
